These iconic American images aim to protest and persuade
By Phaedra Trethan
Published on March 28, 2026.
Iconic images from Benjamin Franklin's "Join, or Die" woodcut, often used as a tool to promote unity among the colonies against a common enemy, the British government. Printmaking was an early means of disseminating dissent, with examples such as the "Join or Die," or "Paul Revere's engraving depicting the Boston Massacre. The 19th century saw the rise of political cartoons by Thomas Nast, and artists like Glenn Shaw and Elizabeth Olds created murals reflecting American life during the 1930s and '40s. During the AIDS crisis, artists like Keith Haring, Nan Goldin and the Silence=Death and Gran Fury collectives used art to highlight the plight of those suffering and dying from the disease, and to draw attention to an indifferent society. In the 1960s, protest art took different forms, like performance art, and puppets.
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